Antiques shops and art dealers offer a wonderful variety of unusual and unique gift ideas.  Online and in their shops, their constantly refreshed stock provides lots of great choices.  Antiques have very green credentials too. This year, why not consider buying in to sustainable giving, support small businesses, and choose a special object imbued with history and craftsmanship for your nearest and dearest.

M&D Moir

There’s nothing better than browsing in person for that perfect present.  Why not visit some of our Decorative Fair dealers and experience their gorgeous shops filled with festive treasures.  Great places to go to in London are Church Street, Marylebone NW8 just off Lisson Grove or Lillie Road, Fulham SW6 to find a concentration of our exhibitors. In Church Street you will find a plethora of Decorative Fair dealers, such as Nick Jones with 18th to 20th century furniture, mirrors, lighting & accessories; Patricia Harvey Antiques with a timeless mix of painted and classic furniture and objects; James Worrall with 20th century and antique furniture, lighting and mirrors; Living in Style with mid-century modern and deco furniture and artworks; Dorian Caffot de Fawes with elegant 1940s and later French style; and Aaron Nejad Gallery, a carpet and textiles dealer who is also the organiser of the LARTA rug fair, held up on the mezzanine of the Winter Decorative Fair in Battersea.

Dorian Caffot de Fawes

Down in Fulham, there’s a stretch of nearly 20 dealers based along Lillie Road, running east from Fulham Cross roundabout at the junction of Munster Road.  Starting as they mean to continue through December, on Tuesday 6 December they’re hosting a very festive evening with shops serving wine and mince pies.  Among dealers who are regular exhibitors at The Decorative Fair are 900 Art & Design (20th century Scandinavian design and Italian art), DJ Green (antiques, decorative arts and 20th century), Henry Saywell with art and antiques, Il Paralume (fine Italian design), M. Charpentier (painted and decorative pieces), Quindry (primarily French 20th century design), Phil Taylor Cool Stuff (mid-century and industrial lighting, furniture, aeronautical antique posters) and Streett Marburg with decorative antiques and design.

M. Charpentier

Fancy a day out? Petworth is a pretty market town in West Sussex, nestled in the South Downs, filled with independent stores and a good selection of antiques and design shops.  As well as clothing and gift stores, a great bookseller, cafes and pubs, Petworth has a thriving collection of antiques, art and interiors dealers, as well as an indoor antiques market. There’s a local website that lists them all. Among regular Decorative Fair exhibitors you will find Vagabond Antiques (statement furniture, statuary and mirrors), Wakelin & Linfield (country and town furniture and folk art), John Bird Antiques (Georgian and later formal, painted and upholstered furniture, and decorative pieces including for the garden) and Timothy Langston Fine Art & Antiques (prints, lighting and furniture).  On Saturday 3 December from 11am-7pm Petworth hosts its annual Christmas Cracker, with a seasonal street market, drinks in shops, and special window displays.

Vagabond Antiques

Tetbury has a justifiable reputation as a centre of antiques in the Cotswolds, with nearly 30 shops and dealers.  Not far from Highgrove, the country home of King Charles III, historic Tetbury was a major centre for wool and yarn during the Middle Ages.  It’s handsome old stone buildings and market hall testify to the richness of the area. The town Christmas tree, lights and decorations are up from December 1.  Here you will also find Lorfords Hangars, home to several dozen individual dealers – many of whom exhibit regularly at Battersea – displaying all manner of goods, grand and small, in interior sets, over an acre or more of space.  Lorfords Hangars give dealers a unique way to showcase their treasures, with large-scale display ‘rooms’ housed inside a Gloucestershire aircraft hangar a short way from the town.  Decorative Fair dealers with space at the Hangars include Hudson Antiques (decorative antiques, mirrors and lighting), Living in Style (chic 20th century pieces), Christopher-Hall Antiques (painted Swedish and European antiques), Macintosh Antiques (English country house classics), French Country Living (large-scale French, Italian and Swedish antiques for interiors and gardens), M. Charpentier (decorative European furniture, mirrors, garden and unique objects) and Gallery Yacou (fine carpets and rugs).

Macintosh Antiques

You can find the locations of our many exhibitors who are based all around the country – from Edinburgh to Cheshire, from Sheffield to Bedfordshire, and from Tunbridge Wells, Kent to Sherborne, Dorset – here

If you are pushed for time and prefer to shop online, The Decorative Fair now has a showroom window on the website featuring stock for sale from many exhibitors at our three annual Fairs.  On the Shop Decorative pages you will find jewellery and vintage couture handbags, formal and decorated furniture, affordable art, and plenty of interesting objects and accessories that would make thoughtful and useful gifts.

Come and explore here…